Coastal Karnataka traders' group urges district officials to allow Muslim vendors at temple fairs

Coastal Karnataka's traders' group has asked district officials to permit Muslim vendors to sell at temple fairs; last year, some shrines prohibited them from doing so at the instigation of Sangh Parivar outfits.

Ahead of the Dasara holiday, the demand was made by the Religious Fair Businessmen's Coordination Committee of the Dakshina Kannada and Udupi Districts, which is composed of people of all religions.

According to the committee, Muslim vendors are prohibited from operating even at the government-run Mangaladevi Temple located in Mangalore, Dakshina Kannada.

It has been reported that during religious festivals in the summer of last year and later during Dasara, a number of shrines prohibited Muslims from bidding for stalls, even in public areas close to the temples.

The management of the Mangaladevi Temple has lately made the decision to deny Muslim vendors stalls, even on the street directly across from the shrine. Committee convener B.K. Imthiyaz told The Telegraph on Saturday, "We never faced such a ban until last year when some Hindu organizations objected to Muslim vendors setting up temporary stalls at temple fairs."

However, as conducting our business is our means of subsistence, we are now asking district officials in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi for permission to do so.

During the height of the BJP-ruled Karnataka state's hijab crisis in the summer of last year, Muslim vendors were prohibited from operating. Hindu organizations portrayed the restriction as payback for the complete closure that Muslim organizations had imposed in opposition to a Karnataka High Court ruling that maintained the prohibition on the headscarf.

The Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Rules, which were created in 2002, were used by the BJP administration of the time to support its claim that non-Hindus were not permitted to conduct business inside temple premises.

Imthiyaz, however, emphasized that Muslims were not asking for permission to operate booths within the grounds of temples.

"All we are requesting is authorization to set up shop on city streets that fall under the jurisdiction of the city government, not the temples," he stated.

Imthiyaz anticipated the district authorities would act quickly because Dasara is scheduled to start on Sunday. "The near-blanket ban in many districts last year caused vendors from our community to suffer huge losses," he claimed.

He went on to say that the majority of the traders who used to operate at the Dakshina Kannada district's temple fairs were Muslims.

"Our body is not restricted to Muslim interests. There are Christians and Hindus among us who want equal rights when it comes to bidding for stalls at temple fairs and festivals, and our president is Jain.